


Thunderstorm with a chance of merman

by Fox_155



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, AquamarinAU, M/M, Red Velvet, f(x) - Freeform, lifeguard!Jongdae, mer!Junmyeon, several other minor ships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-12
Updated: 2018-03-15
Packaged: 2019-03-30 15:12:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 18,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13954281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fox_155/pseuds/Fox_155
Summary: “If we find a dead shark again, I will throw up and quit this job.” Baekhyun whispered, as he pulled on thick gloves to protect his hands from splitters.“I’d rather find a dead one than have one biting my arm.” Jongdae joked and ripped off a trash-bag from the roll.“It’s not funny, Dae.” Baekhyun took a gummi worm and signed. “Alright. Let’s hurry to get it done. Should the necessity arise, I will push you inside as a peace offering.”“I appreciate that you are such a goo-aaah.” A hand reached out of the water, taking the bag of gummi worms. The nails were dark and there was webbing between them, the skin pale, almost white.





	1. Chapter 1 - Thunderstorm

**Author's Note:**

> Here's the AquamarinAU no one asked for (not exactly like the film, but definitely inspired, but you don't need to know the film to understand).
> 
> I've never written anything this long before, I'm not a native speaker and I'm my own Beta.  
> I don't own any of the people and this story isn't by any means an accurate representation of the people by whom it is inspired by.

Jongdae stared at the black clouds that were gathering in the sky. 

“Wow, I’m starting to think the warning wasn’t completely over the top.” Baekhyun leaned out the window of the snack kiosk, looking up as well. 

“I didn’t take it seriously in the morning either. But this looks like trouble.” Jongdae agreed.

The speakers cracked and a moment later, the voice of their boss’ son echoed over the beach: “Attention swimmers, as you might have noticed, we have a thunder storm approaching. Please stay out of the water, and gather your belongings, as we will be closing Arielle Beach for your own safety in fifteen minutes. Remember to stay inside, as strong storms have been announced by the weather forecast.”

“Seems like we at least get to call it a day early.” Baekhyun grinned and flapped his arms a little in excitement. 

“Great, but remember who Minseok-Hyung will call in early tomorrow to clean whatever mess the storm and the sea make on our glorious white beach. Remember that one time we found a dead shark in the kid’s pool?” Jongdae reminded his friend.

Baekhyun gagged and shook his head violently.

“I did not want to remember this, gross, ew.” 

“Yo, guys, Hyung said we can go in fifteen minutes.” Chanyeol hollered and came jogging towards them. 

“You know, this is the perfect moment for a slow-motion camera, you know, zooming into that six-pack and stuff.” Baekhyun smirked.

Jongdae just rolled his eyes over the other’s attics. For claiming to be straight, Baekhyun and Chanyeol were busy checking each other out quite a lot. 

“I heard six-pack!” Chanyeol pointed out, as he stopped next to Jongdae, bending his arm to flex his biceps. 

“Did Hyung mention when we have to check in tomorrow?” Jongdae signed. Chanyeol’s arms had been noodles last summer, but the gym time had really worked in the tall one’s favour. And Chanyeol was as vain as a peacock, so both he, as his gym buddy, and Baekhyun, who had decided gym was far to exhausting and he was just going to keep on his staff shirt while selling ice cream after one week, had gotten plenty of opportunities to see and touch his muscles.

He denied Baekhyun’s claim that he had a severe praise kink, but Jongdae and Baekhyun both didn’t believe that.

“Nah, said he’d text us, depending on whether or not we’d have to clean up anything.” Chanyeol shrugged. 

“Look at the sky and tell me we won’t have to do any cleaning tomorrow like you mean it.” Jongdae dared. 

“Okay, yeah, let’s just assume 10 am or something?” 

“As if. It’s Minseok-Hyung we’re talking about. 8 am or earlier, I’m telling you.” Baekhyun groaned.

People were streaming by, leaving the beach quickly. How no one had bothered looking at the sky and deciding to head home before getting drenched in rain or blown away by wind, was beyond Jongdae. But then again, people were dumb enough to swim into the same current three times within an hour, and not even to get attention from one of the life guards, but just because they were that dumb.

“Let’s hope the weather is kind on us. Gaming at Chanyeol’s?” Baekhyun suggested, locking up all the snacks, taking the till to bring back to the main office and shutting the blinds.

 

Baekhyun and Jongdae ended up stuck at the Parks’ house. Outside, the world seemed to be ending. The sky was lit up by lightning every few minutes, highlighting how the trees bend in the wind, rain being slammed against the windows so loudly, they had to turn up the volume.

Mrs. Park insisted they’d stay, because who knew they didn’t get hit by a tree when trying to get home, not to mention they’d be soaked to the bone within seconds of stepping outside.

Sleepovers at Chanyeol’s were the trio’s favourite. Baekhyun’s family wasn’t very well off and during summer, when his brother was home from college, the two had to share a room. Baekbeom didn’t want to share with two more people, especially not two more loud people. Jongdae had his own room, however, his brother was noise sensitive and needed to sleep off the stress from college, or so he said. So, he kept nagging when they were talking too loudly, which, with the three of them in one room, was all the time. 

Chanyeol’s older sister Yura had her own room and could sleep through the building being torn down, Mrs. Park always made sure they had enough to ear, and Mr. Park reminded them how important it was to keep a good friendship, such as theirs, even when they were growing up, already into their last year of high school.

Jongdae stared out the floor-to-ceiling window, at the raging sea, while Baekhyun went on about how Taeyeon was still his goddess, but since she was away at college, not even coming home for summer, he’d probably want to date Yerim the rest of the year, before graduation in March, because she was almost as pretty.

 

Jongdae jerked up, when Chanyeol’s mobile started blasting at deafening volume. The sun was shining through the window next to his mattress on the floor and the sky was bright blue, like the thunder storm last night had never happened. “Yes?” Chanyeol’s baritone was husky and even deeper in the mornings. “Yeah.” He muttered. “Sure. I’ll tell Baek and Dae. Yeah. See you later.” Chanyeol groaned and flopped an arm over his eyes. 

“Who was that?” Baekhyun whined, sounding like a five-year-old, the stark contrast. 

“Minseok-Hyung. He said… well, Arielle is staying closed and we have to come in by 9. Apparently, it’s a disaster.” Chanyeol explained, words slowly, like his tongue still had to wake up properly. 

“No.” Jongdae whined and crawled under his blanket. 

“What time is it?” “Eight?” “We can sleep another ten minutes, right?” 

 

Only because of Chanyeol’s mom, who had heard his phone ringing, checked on them and threw them out of bed, they weren’t late.

The beach looked… well, not like a white sand beach? There was algae and other plants everywhere, some jelly fish in between, and float wood. Instead of the velvet feeling under their feet, that Arielle Beach was famous for and people paid money for, they had to watch out where they were stepping. Minseok gathered all the student summer-workers, while his parents and the two full-time workers were already working with heavy machines that were grading the sand, easily getting rid of everything that didn’t belong.

“Alright, my parents are cleaning the sand, but the big pieces can’t be handled by the machine, so I need some of you picking up everything bigger than your arm. We need to check and repair the watch posts. And lastly, the kid’s pool will have to be drained, but before, we also have to take out all big things that would get stuck in the pipe.”

Minseok signed. “Alright, it seems a lot, but we hope to finish today, or at least clean up enough so we can open again tomorrow. I need all of you to really work hard, okay?” he smiled at them, but it didn’t quite conceal his worries. Jongdae knew this was going to cost the Kims a lot of money. The beach was popular and crowded, but it was really just a summer business. A big loss would mean money troubles, so they couldn’t afford that. Minseok was going to their local community college to earn his degree in economics and take the business over, so he understood the situation perfectly.

 

Jongdae ended up on kid’s pool duty with Baekhyun, while Chanyeol had to rebuild watch posts, because he was tall and strong. 

“If we find a dead shark again, I will throw up and quit this job.” Baekhyun whispered, as he pulled on thick gloves to protect his hands from splitters. 

“I’d rather find a dead one than have one biting my arm.” Jongdae joked and ripped off a trash-bag from the roll. 

“It’s not funny, Dae.” Baekhyun glared. 

The pool’s water was dark, full of unsettled algae swimming in it. Even if there was a shark, they wouldn’t see it. Jongdae still hoped there were no unpleasant surprises. He ripped open a pack of gummi worms, setting it on the edge before starting to fish out wood and trash, shoving it in the bag. They would have to get inside eventually. The pool was shallow, 1m at the deepest end, and 1cm at the other. But Jongdae hoped it’d get more inviting, if they cleared the water some before diving in.

The risk of encountering a shark was still looming over them.

“Oh my god, this is disgusting. I mean, it’s a nice idea the waves can reach here without your child being taken and drowned by them, but still. Gross.” Baekhyun whined and pulled a face. “Let’s hope we don’t get another storm this summer.” Jongdae frowned at the murky water. Maybe they could just use a stick to pull all the big waste to the edge? He really didn’t want to get in there.

“Oh my god, Dae, something moved!” Baekhyun shrieked and jumped up, rushing towards his friend. “Oh my god, Dae, not another shark, no.” 

“Where?” Jongdae stared into the water, but didn’t see anything. 

“Over there.” Jongdae followed Baekhyun’s pointed finger, but still, nothing. 

“Are you sure? There’s probably some small fish or jelly fish in there.” 

“No, that was massive.” 

“Okay, well, we don’t have to get inside yet. And it won’t be a Great White that jumps out of the water.” Jongdae joked, while observing the water carefully.

Baekhyun took a gummi worm and signed. “Alright. Let’s hurry to get it done. Should the necessity arise, I will push you inside as a peace offering.” 

“I appreciate that you are such a goo-aaah.” Jongdae screamed, Baekhyun joining his shouting when he noticed what Jongdae was seeing.

A hand reached out of the water, taking the bag of gummi worms. The nails were dark and there was webbing between them, the skin pale, almost white. Jongdae was frozen in place, while Baekhyun had jumped up and stumbled back a few steps.

A moment later, the hand and arm were followed by a head poking out of the water. Jongdae yelped again, the person looking at him in surprise. Jongdae wasn’t sure what he was seeing. It seemed to be a guy, probably their age, with a very handsome face and the same pale skin as on the hand. While his face was distinctly Asian, his eyes were bright blue, as was his hair, that was long, floating in the water behind him. 

There were these gashes on both sides on his neck, that fluttered with every breath he took. Almost looking like… gills on sharks. And then, a blue scaled fin broke the surface. “You never saw me, okay?” the guy smiled, pulling the gummi worms in the pool and diving back down.

“Fuck!” Baekhyun yelled. “Fuck, did you just see that? Him? Fuck, Dae, pinch me!” Baekhyun started shaking Jongdae’s shoulder. 

Jongdae pinched Baekhyun, who hissed in pain. 

“Is that a mermaid? Mer…man? That was a guy, right?” Jongdae asked his friend, who was rubbing his pinched arm. 

“Fuck if I know. But… you know? Seems like a mermaid to me.” Baekhyun agreed.

“Um, guys? Sorry, but I couldn’t help but hear, because, well, you’re really loud, but I’m not a girl and the correct term is just ‘mer’.” 

Baekhyun and Jongdae grabbed each other, screaming again, when the same head poked up from the water again.

The guy, mer, wrinkled his nose. “Just wanted to tell you. Okay, bye.” He disappeared. 

 

Jongdae and Baekhyun stared at the surface, then at each other. 

“Fuck.” 

“There’s a mer in the kid’s pool. That’s going to be drained…” Jongdae muttered and Baekhyun’s eyes widened. 

They turned to the pool again simultaneously. “Hey, mer…” Jongdae called, while Baekhyun shouted: “You! Blue-fin!” 

Only a second later, the handsome face resurfaced, looking at them expectantly and curiously. 

“They’ll drain the pool later today. You can’t stay in there.” Jongdae explained, stumbling over his words. 

“Drain? Why?” the mer looked around. “It’s lovely.” 

Baekhyun furrowed his brows: “Well, it’s dirty and there’s wood and trash in there. It’s for kids, it has to be clean.” 

“Kids?” 

“Children?” Jongdae supplied, when the mer seemed confused at the word. It was a relief communication seemed to go as smoothly as it did so far. But the mer still seemed confused. Did mermaids have kids? 

“Like little humans.” Baekhyun quickly explained. 

“Oh, I see. Yeah, I don’t like trash either, but it’s really not that much in here. I thought humans liked trash in their water?” The mer started playing with the now empty bag of gummi worms. 

“Who would like trash in their water?” Jongdae wondered, glancing at Baekhyun, who seemed just as confused.

“Well, since you humans put so much trash into the sea?” the mer shrugged. “We all think you like trash in the water, that’s why you would put it there.”

Jongdae felt his face heat up. How embarrassing would it be to explain to a mermaid. No, mer, that they didn’t like the trash around, so, big companies happily threw it into the ocean instead of recycling it. 

“Um… no, we don’t.” Baekhyun stuttered. “Okay, ah, well, regardless, you said you needed the trash out of here?” the mer asked and the waste started swimming towards them, as if a current pushed it to where Jongdae and Baekhyun were sitting. Jongdae watched it with wide eyes. 

“Yeah, well, the trash needs to be picked out, so they can drain it and not stuff the pipes.” Jongdae absentmindedly explained, starting to pick up trash again. 

“That’s… not so good.” The mer muttered, looking around. “Actually, I’m not supposed to be seen by humans like this. I mean, I didn’t intent to get shored in a lake like this, but, well, dad really threw a tantrum and I was sort of washed along, I know, really embarrassing.” The mer signed deeply, before freezing. The trash stopped floating toward them.

“You won’t tell anyone, right?” he squeaked. 

“Um… I guess not?” Jongdae looked at Baekhyun who nodded. 

“Good. Right, because, you know, I’m actually here on a mission, to prove my dad I can find love, so he won’t marry me off to the head of the Western mers. You don’t happen to know a lot about love?” he looked at them with hope glimmering in his eyes.

Jongdae noticed Baekhyun straightening up. “Like, what exactly are we talking about? Loving friends? Crushing on someone? Falling in love? Sex?” Baekhyun asked eagerly. The mer’s blue eyes widened with every word. 

“You do know about love! I can tell! Oh, could you please help me out? I only have until the next full moon, in about fourteen nights, and I really don’t want to be married off.”

Jongdae found himself swallowing hard at the excitement in the other’s eyes. He seemed so genuinely excited over such a weird task and he was just so beautiful, with those strange eyes. And really, being married off to somewhere? That was something that shouldn’t be happening to anyone, mystical fantasy creature he wasn’t quite sure actually floated in the pool in front of him, or not.

So, he didn’t mention how Baekhyun was most definitely not a reliable expert on love.

 

“Guys? Are you doing okay? Jongin said you were shouting. Well, shouting more than usual.” Minseok piqued up and Jongdae reacted without thinking, shoving the surprised mer back under the surface, who willingly let himself be dunked. 

“No, yes, we’re totally fine, Hyung, no worries.” Baekhyun cackled.

Minseok eyed their progress. “Oh, you’re fast! That’s good! When you’re done, check back with me. The beach is a lot more work, I’m sure we can use some more man-power there.” 

“Sure will, Hyung.” Jongdae chirped, his hand still on the mer’s head, the strands of hair tickling it, soft, like only hair under water felt. Minseok jogged off again and Jongdae moved his hand, the mer carefully peeking out of the water again.

“Wow, thanks.” He beamed at Jongdae. Jongdae’s heart started beating a little faster. 

“No problem.” 

“So, are you willing to help me? Oh, it’s worth it, I promise! If we succeed, you get a wish from my father, each of you and me, but I will wish to be freed from the marriage promise obviously.” The mer explained.

Baekhyun and Jongdae exchanged a glance. They had their jobs, sure, but summer tended to get a bit boring in their small town. This was an adventure unlike anything else.

“You know, usually, we come in a set of three… it’d probably be hard to do without Chanyeol knowing.” Baekhyun started carefully. 

“Is this Chanyeol your friend, I take it?” 

“Friend, yeah, mate, pal, however you wanna call it.” Baekhyun nodded. The mer seemed confused by that, his nose wrinkling adorably. His face was so expressive, easy to read. Many people weren’t like that. Jongdae himself, too, tried to be cool in front of strangers, putting on the mask of the comedian.

“One more person knowing shouldn’t be a problem, if he’ll help, too?” 

“Totally.” Jongdae quickly confirmed. He felt himself willing to say whatever necessary, just to make sure this guy wasn’t going anywhere. Like he was going to miss the greatest adventure, if he left him in the pool now. “Wonderful! I’m so happy I met you! I already owe you, though… I’m afraid there won’t be much I could offer you if we fail.” The mer pouted, obviously unpleased with his own lack of offerings.

“We only have to show your father love exists, right? That won’t be hard. We can do that in, like, ten minutes.” Baekhyun nodded.

“Well, um, no, he said I had to get a ‘true love’s kiss’?” the mer looked unsure of his words and Jongdae found himself starting to get distracted by just staring at the wide eyes, straight nose and even skin… how did that even look so dewy? Salt water dried his skin out to no end.

“Oh, so, you have to find someone you like and kiss them? Like Prince Eric and Arielle?” Baekhyun asked and Jongdae snapped out of his stupor. 

“I’m not sure who that is, but essentially, yes.” 

“You know, the tail might be a bit of a problem, right? Especially if people shouldn’t find out about you…” Baekhyun trailed off.

“I agree, no one should find out! What, if they sell him off to some laboratory or stuff?” Jongdae cut in, feeling a bit panicked at the idea of someone harming the cute mer.

The mer smiled brightly and hauled himself out of the pool, water splashing at both of them. Jongdae’s jaw almost dropped at the sight of the pale skin stretching over hard muscle. 

“Don’t worry, I do have an enchanted necklace, that allows me to change forms as long as I remain relatively dry.” He explained happily, pointing at the strap around his neck, that held different stones and shells. 

“My name is Junmyeon, by the way.” Jongdae tried his hardest not to let his eyes wander down, while the mer looked at him.

“I’m Baekhyun, that is Jongdae and then there’s Chanyeol.” Baekhyun already plappered, before Jongdae could get over his awestruck.

Jongdae’s eyes flicked down to the mer’s torso again. Apart from the necklace, he was wearing heavy, thick bracelets that might be made from corals, and where the blue scales started to dot his skin around his belly button, before becoming a thick pattern on his tail, sat a scarf with beautiful embroidery and pearls. 

“I’ll dry myself, just give me a moment.” Junmyeon chirped and Jongdae ripped his eyes away to pick up some of the trash close to him. He did not need to watch Junmyeon dry off like some pervert.

“I’m really grateful you agreed to help me out. I didn’t really think of a good plan before enraging my father, you know, but I didn’t have enough time to figure something elaborate out.” Junmyeon calmly explained, while Jongdae glanced behind himself, where the mer was lying, not really doing anything that could be counted as drying off. He looked… well, like a stranded sea animal. Baekhyun kept an eye on the others, who working on the beach below them. 

“Maybe you’d dry faster with a towel?” Jongdae suggested.

“Not to mention, you need some proper clothing.” Baekhyun suddenly yelled. 

Jongdae stared at him in shock. Yes, please, give the gorgeous mer some clothing, a ton of it, to cover up and not kill him in a severe heart attacked, induced by staring at that muscle and…

“Oh, you mean the kind you’re wearing? It’d probably help to blend in…” Junmyeon agreed and a second later, steam started rising from his body and Jongdae squeaked.

“Oh my god, what is happening?” Baekhyun clawed into Jongdae’s shoulder, who watched in astonishment. 

“I said I’d dry myself. It’s a really simple trick, you just heat the water to boiling point and tada.” Junmyeon explained, like someone would explain how to open an umbrella.

“You heat the water to boiling point?” Jongdae croaked. He had spilled tea water when he was eight once. That had been very painful.

“How do you even do that?” Baekhyun muttered, when the mer’s tails started glowing a faint blue and just seconds later, the light died again and left a very pale, but very human man, save for the long, blue hair, next to the kid’s pool.

“Simple water magic. Oh, you don’t have that, right?” Junmyeon eyed them curiously. Jongdae stared at the toned legs the other now pulled under his body to sit properly. He was so screwed. Not to mention that scarf barely covered anything. Okay, no, think of gross things. Chanyeol’s cooking, Jongdeok’s dirty underwear, that face mask with coal Baekhyun tried from a diy tutorial once.

“No, as far as I recall, we don’t have water magic, nor enchanted necklaces.” Baekhyun complained.

“I feel boring.” Jongdae mumbled, trying to stop himself from staring, before anyone noticed.

“Well, we need a plan here. You need some clothes and the pool still needs cleaning.” Baekhyun signed. 

“And we need to introduce Chanyeol.” Jongdae added, fishing out empty, crumpled plastic bottles.

“Oh, yes, I would like to meet your friend.” Junmyeon happily announced and a moment later settled next to Jongdae. 

“I suggest I help you with this task, since it’s so important and I feel like I could speed it up.” He suggested and Jongdae felt his arm brush against his own.

Okay, now, neither Baekhyun, nor Chanyeol had any concept of personal space and usually, neither did he, or so people accused him often. However, having this stunning mer almost pressed against his side, made Jongdae suddenly very nervous and hyperaware of everything.

The trash started flowing towards them, again, and Jongdae immediately started picking it up and shoving it in his bag, while Baekhyun started questioning how this magic worked.

“It’s just… natural? I don’t think about it. I just ask the water to do this. It’s different for every mer, though. My father, for example, can control the weather, but he’s not very good with freezing things, and his advisor doesn’t have strong water magic, but instead, he can enchant things. He made my necklace, for example. It’s quite handy.”

“Handy? Imagine what you could do! I could have pulled Taeyeon closer to me, that time we were in the same water ball team, and she wouldn’t even have noticed.” Baekhyun whined. Jongdae snorted.

“She still would have turned you down, you know?” 

“No, she wouldn’t. You see, Junmyeon, Taeyeon is… well, she’s my dream girl. She’s tiny and beautiful and funny, but witty, and super smart and…” “…completely out of his league, not to mention two years older, and blew him off, when he asked her out. Five times.”

Baekhyun poked his tongue out.

“Where did you ask her to?” Junmyeon wondered. 

“Oh, right. You wouldn’t know! This is the ideal story to get you accustomed to… love.” Baekhyun said the last word with a wiggle of his eyebrows, drawling it out.

“Ew.” Jongdae frowned. 

“Yes, I would love to hear!” Junmyeon nodded eagerly. Well, since the mer wanted to hear, Jongdae was glad to share the full story.

“Alright, Baekhyun crushed on Taeyeon, since second grade of middle school, so, age 14.” 

“What do you measure age in? Surely not moon cycles, right?” Junmyeon interrupted, looking like he wanted to absorb and understand every single detail and Jongdae wanted to give him all this information, tell him everything he knew. 

“No, years.” Baekhyun shook his head. Junmyeon seemed to not know what years were.

“A year would be a full cycle of the sun?” Jongdae tried. How many full moons were there in a year?

“Oh, a full set of change of seasons? Alright, that makes more sense. How old are you using that system?” he asked.

“Oh, that’s right, we haven’t talked about age! What if some of us is older? That’d be so rude!” Baekhyun yelped, slapping his forehead, and Jongdae nodded. His manners were the last thing he was thinking about. Looking at Junmyeon’s face, he seemed young, but his body looked mature, so it was hard to tell. Similar to Minseok, who could look 12 or 25, depending on what expression he wore and how much clothing.

“I’m 17 years old, but Baekhyun is a bit older than me, he turned 18 already, and Chanyeol is a bit younger, still 17.” Jongdae supplied happily. Junmyeon nodded.

“Well, using this system…. I would be… 19 of your years old.” He announced.

“Oh, Hyung, how rude of us!” Baekhyun wailed. Jongdae chuckled at Junmyeon’s startled expression.

“What’s Hyung?”

 

In the end, Jongdae never got around to explaining Baekhyun’s pathetic crush on Taeyeon, because they were busy explaining age hierarchies. Junmyeon was puzzled as to why his name was swiftly changed to Hyung, but Jongdae pointed out if he wanted to blend it, it’s be essential to use that. After all, he looked Korean and spoke Korean (as well as whale, but that wasn’t a foreign language to brag about with humans), so they couldn’t pass him as an Asian-American, who was unfamiliar with the system.

And then, they were done fishing out trash and Baekhyun lend his spare clothing from his locker to Junmyeon (when one handled greasy, staining food and sold said things to children, a change of clothes tended to come in handy). Junmyeon was about their size, slightly shorter, which at least made dressing him very easy.

He kept tugging on the t-shirt and on the pants, obviously uncomfortable with the fabric on his skin, and Jongdae couldn’t help but find it oddly charming. He had also kept the scarf, now wrapped around his waist. Jongdae wasn’t sure how to call it. He had never seen anyone wear a scarf like this. If it weren’t Junmyeon, who looked so good he could wear anything, Jongdae would have probably made fun of the waist-scarf. The threat was shiny in the sun and the turquoise added a nice splash of colour to the plain white tee. 

Baekhyun raised an eyebrow, obviously just as confused about the fashion-statement, but also didn’t comment further and Junmyeon seemed preoccupied by the itchy fabric.

The two of them weren’t sure what to do with Junmyeon’s hair, which was almost down to his waist and blue. Overall, he looked as out of place as he was. Luckily, his nails were no longer dark and the webbing had disappeared. That would have been really tricky to explain. Also, no more gills.

He would already be getting stares as it was. Jongdae found him breath taking, but he also knew people tended to pick on everything that differed from the norm and Junmyeon most definitely differed. Jongdae didn’t want the precious mer to be teased or insulted, but it was just the bit of staff of Arielle beach around now and they had other worries than people with weird fashion.

And work couldn’t wait. Jongdae didn’t want to let his favourite boss down and Junmyeon seemed unworried, but instead eager to help and find out more about humans.

They seemed to be just as fascinating to him, as he was to them.

They reported to Minseok and told their boss Junmyeon was Jongdae’s pen pal from the North, where the sun never shone, thus the white skin, and he was willing to help. Minseok, who was holding up the pole of a watch post, while Kris and Chanyeol tightened the screws at the base ofit, didn’t question why this friend suddenly turned up, nor why he was wearing coloured contact lenses, and told them to help the biggest team pick up trash from the beach.

 

“A merman?” Chanyeol raised an eyebrow. After hours of cleaning the beach to acceptable level, they were finally in the Parks’ backyard, dusting sand off themselves. Mrs. Park had a lot of patience and was very understanding, but all that ended with sandy boys strolling through her house, leaving trails clear enough for Hansel and Gretel to find back home.

“Yes, the correct term is mer.” Jongdae supplied. Junmyeon nodded eagerly. Baekhyun coughed obnoxiously. 

“I mean… the blue eyes are sort of confusing.” Chanyeol muttered. “But, like, you have a tail and stuff?”

“Yes, I do. I could show you, if you wish?” Junmyeon offered.

“And we find some cute girl, get her to date you and then you just have to kiss by the shore and we all get a wish?” Chanyeol completed, ignoring the offer.

“That’s it!” Baekhyun cheered. It sounded very simple… Jongdae started wondering, if they were missing the hook. There had to be a hook, right?

“Dope. Can I wish for whatever?” 

“Well, I’m not overly familiar, but my father’s powers are quite impressive and he has his advisor, whose magic is much more diverse. He’s able to conjure quite a lot.” Junmyeon assured.

“It’s an adventure for the holidays and we could get rich or something, it’s awesome. Literally no downside.” Baekhyun hollered. 

“Yeah, I’m in. This will be great!” Chanyeol grinned from ear to ear, showing off most of his teeth.

Junmyeon had started dusting off his legs and was bending down and his butt looked absolutely amazing. He needed distraction or he would be getting very inappropriate thoughts and he did not need to spring a boner right now. “Alright. Now, we need a backstory to tell people.” Jongdae said in an effort to pull his mind from the gutter.

“We’ll just tell them the pen pal thing. You know word travels and we already told Minseok-Hyung and then most of the staff, so a ton of people will know already. We can’t have stories clash.” Baekhyun pointed out and Chanyeol nodded in agreement.

“Can you just tell your mom, too? I mean, you could probably crash here, but it’d be weird if he’s your pal and lives with me, right?” Chanyeol added.

Right, Junmyeon living with Jongdae, rooming together. What could possibly go wrong?

“Yeah, probably. We could be e-mail pen pals… she’d know there were no letters.” Jongdae mumbled. 

“I’m really interested in your housing! I’d be glad if you’d allow me to stay, but I could just sleep in a lake or other still water, if you have one…” Junmyeon suggested “I’d hate to be an inconvenience.” 

“No, you aren’t. I’m sure mom won’t mind. You can’t just sleep in a lake! It’s cold and lonely and… no.” Jongdae quickly shook his head. 

“Right, so. Who are we going to set him up with?” Baekhyun asked, plopping down on a sun-chair, his sunglasses back in his freckled nose. 

“Hey, Hyung, would you mind a hair-cut? No one really wears long hair anymore. Apart from girls. It’s really old-fashioned.” Chanyeol started combing through the long strands and Jongdae felt a tug of jealousy. If this were Baekhyun, or really, any other person, he’d long have started petting him. But with the mer, he felt so self-conscious.

“I noticed only the females had long hair.” Junmyeon started “Do you think it’d look good short? I mean… it’s rather important to look one’s best, right? I don’t have much to offer, beside looks.”

“What? Of course, you do! You’re probably the most polite and considerate person I ever met and I’ve only known you for some hours. And don’t be silly, you’d probably look good even if Chanyeol cut your hair and completely fucked it up.” Jongdae yelped, almost taking Junmyeon’s arm and shaking him, but holding himself back.

Baekhyun raised his eyebrows and smirked, but Jongdae didn’t notice. 

“What? That was one time and the barber fixed it.” Chanyeol whined loudly. Yes, he had fixed it by giving Kyungsoo a buzz cut and Chanyeol’s elf ears had been red for four days, because the younger had pulled them so hard.

Junmyeon smiled at Jongdae, his eyes crinkling into crescents. “You’re too generous, Jongdae. I really am nothing special.” Jongdae coughed and turned away, catching Baekhyun’s smug expression.

“What?” he hissed and pushed the older for good measure, as they finally marched into the house.


	2. Chapter 2 - Ice Cream

Jongdae’s mom was delighted over having such a “handsome, polite young man” over, making both of them sweat with her questions, but they seemed to convince her successfully that they had been writing for some months now. Jongdeok said he didn’t care, as long as they weren’t as “fucking noisy as Chanyeol and Baekhyun”.

Junmyeon happily promised him to be quiet, while Jongdeok paid 500 won in the swear jar. Jongdae would have teased him for being such a push-over, but he was busy listening to how gentle and comforting Junmyeon’s voice was. Also, Junmyeon wasn’t a push-over and he would fight anyone who said so.

 

Junmyeon squeaked, when Jongdae explained the bath tub, seeing that was going to be the easiest way to get the mer clean. 

“It’s so adorable! Look how tiny it is!” Junmyeon repeated, patting the edge excitedly. 

“Um, yeah, there’s not that much space in the bathroom.” 

“Humans are so creative to find solutions for problems. I find it highly admirable.” Junmyeon explained in his slightly outdated way of speaking. Jongdae wanted to squeeze his cheeks, but he didn’t.

Instead, he turned to get some shower gel to put in the water, hoping to get some proper bath-stuff tomorrow, since they were going to the mall anyway. When he turned back, Junmyeon was already losing his clothes without a worry in the world. 

It was all good, they were both guys and just because he was gay, he wasn’t spared the experience that public showers were and unless he was crushing on someone, it wasn’t a problem. It was just another guy, with the same parts as himself, nothing to fret over. 

The thing was, he was crushing very hard on the pale mer. So, it wasn’t just any other guy he felt absolutely indifferent looking at. And Jongdae wasn’t really out yet, only Baekhyun and Chanyeol knew. If Junmyeon’s kind didn’t even care about love, they’d surely care even less about love between people who wouldn’t produce any offspring.

Jongdae got his shit together and squeezed shower gel in the water.

“Foam! You’re making foam! This is wonderful!” Junmyeon leaned over the edge of the bath tub the moment the water started making bubbles from the soap. 

“Quite pretty, right? It’s not a bubble bath, so they won’t stay for long. I’ll just, um, leave you to it? This one’s shampoo and the water turns off like this. Turn this way for hotter and that way for colder. Here’s a towel, if you need one. I’ll just turn away so you have privacy.” Jongdae explained, tugging his phone out and settling on the floor, facing the locked door.

He was not going to risk exposure by opening the door. His mom was completely unaffected by the need for private shower time, seeing him and his friends as little boys that were incapable of bathing themselves yet, and would come inside whenever they were showering with the door unlocked to check they weren’t drowning themselves in the tub that was barely knee deep. Well, knee deep on Chanyeol. Jongdae in general did not need his mom seeing him shower and he most definitely didn’t need his mom discovering his pen pal had a (very pretty) blue fish tail.

A small splashing sound announced Junmyeon had gotten into the bathtub.

“The temperature is so different.” He commented. 

“I guess the ocean is rather cold?” 

“Yes, I mean, there are a few hot currents, but this is much different. Um. How do you use this shampoo you mentioned?”

“On your hair, to clean it. Salt, for example, is bad for it. At least it is for human hair. So, you wash it out using that. Don’t get it in your eyes, or it’ll burn.” Jongdae heard the bottle being uncapped.

“Could you demonstrate?” Junmyeon asked after a few more seconds.

Jongdae collected himself, giving a small pep talk that he had washed his friend’s hair many times and this was not a thing to panic over. “Yeah, sure. Can I turn?”

“Yes? Why wouldn’t you?”

“Privacy?” Jongdae forced a chuckle. Junmyeon held the shampoo toward him, most of his upper body soaking in the water, but his tail hung out of the tub comically. Jongdae was mesmerised by the pattern of scales for a moment. Earlier, it had seemed like a simple blue, but a closer look revealed all different sorts of scales on it. 

“It’s really pretty. Your tail, I mean, obviously you are very pretty, too, but. Yeah, um, I’ll just be taking this?” Jongdae blabbered. He usually didn’t have much of a filter, but just for once, he wished he did have one, instead of humiliating himself in front of the well spoken mer.

“Thank you.” Junmyeon beamed when he took the bottle. Jongdae took the shower head to properly rinse Junmyeon’s hair, since the tub was simply too short. Jongdae knew the struggle, even though he was shorter than a mer with tail.

“Okay, I’ll rinse your hair, close your eyes and hold your breath… wait. I don’t think you have to.” Jongdae felt the water starting to soak his shorts. Luckily it was a common occurrence that the floor got showered as well and Jongdae had a lot of practice scraping water into the drain in the shower-corner.

Junmyeon giggled: “No, I don’t think so either, if water is what you’re worrying about. I have these.” He pointed at the gashes on his neck. 

At first, they had looked a bit gross, since, well, they were gashes, but now they reminded Jongdae so strongly of a shark, he didn’t mind anymore. Jongdae still tried to spare Junmyeon’s face the water, as he turned it on. 

“The writing on this looks a lot different from what I’m used to.” Junmyeon commented, holding up the shower gel. “I’m rather surprised you use the same letters at all.” Jongdae chuckled and started putting the shampoo in Junmyeon’s hair. The mer hummed happily.

“This is nice! About the writing, we honestly copied it from humans. But this is very neat.” 

“I guess you don’t have printers under water. That’s computer writing, that’s why.”

“Well, I’ve never heard of one, so I don’t think he have that.”

 

Talking to Junmyeon was easy. And not talking to Junmyeon was also easy. The mer hummed along to Jongdae’s soft singing when he learnt the melodies and he was curious to listen to Jongdae telling him about dating, Baekhyun and Chanyeol’s adventures and what girls liked – according to Jongdae’s common sense and experience with friends.

He was practically glued to the magazines Jongdae had stolen from his mom, staring at the fashion. “Humans dress so prettily. If only the material wasn’t so itchy.”

In return, Junmyeon shared what his home was like. Jongdae wanted to press further, since Junmyeon had said again he was going to be married off, because he was good looking and old enough now, but Junmyeon asked him, before he could voice his question:

“You only talked about Baekhyun and Chanyeol. What about you?”

“What about me?” Jongdae pulled the thin blanket under his nose. Junmyeon was on the floor, after he had carefully bounced on his bed, not taking Jongdae’s suggestion to jump on it, and deeming it too soft, happily taking the futon. Well, Jongdae wasn’t going to complain.

“Your dating. You mentioned how looks were important for a first impression. You’re so handsome, surely you’d be popular with girls?”

Jongdae was glad Junmyeon wouldn’t see him blush madly.

“Ah, well, most girls think Baek and Yeol are more handsome. But thank you.” 

Jongdae’s mattress dipped and he jerked up, when Junmyeon leaned over his face, resulting in a collision of their foreheads. They both groaned in pain and Jongdae hurried to apologise profusely.

“I’m so sorry, Hyung, I’m so stupid, I wasn’t thinking! I was startled, I’m sorry! Does it hurt a lot?” Junmyeon held his head just like Jongdae did. “No, no, I’m to blame for startling you. I apologise, Jongdae!” the mer insisted. 

“Let me feel.” Jongdae insisted, letting go of his own head in favour of running his fingers over Junmyeon’s forehead, but feeling no severe damage.

“I… I’m really fine.” 

“Well, you could always get bangs to cover it up tomorrow, if a huge bump grew, Hyung.” Jongdae chuckled. Junmyeon smiled, his teeth catching the light of the moon. He let himself plop back down onto the futon. 

“I think we should sleep, Hyung.”

“Hm.”

 

“Jongdae?” 

“Yeah.” Jongdae’s body was heavy, close to falling asleep.

“Can you… not call me Hyung? I know it’s polite. But… it feels impersonal? I’ve only ever been called Junmyeon. Or Prince Junmyeon.”

“Just Junmyeon? Or should I call you Prince?” Jongdae chuckled sleepily. Junmyeon did feel a bit like a prince. Jongdae felt giddy at the idea, that his guest was no only a mer, extremely handsome, but also a prince.

“No, just Junmyeon please!” Jongdae could head the smile in the mer’s voice.

“Okay.”

“Thanks.”

 

“And Jongdae?”

“Hrm?” Jongdae was barely awake now.

“I think you’re more handsome than Baekhyun and Chanyeol. Perhaps, the girls have an odd perception of beauty?”

 

Junmyeon’s bed was empty, when Jongdae’s alarm ripped him from his dreams. He stumbled to the kitchen, where his mother was talking with the mer animatedly. Junmyeon was still in Jongdae’s pyjamas, and his hair was braided fancily.

“Good morning, Jongdae.” He chirped.

“Yah, Jongdae, how is this good behaviour? Your guest was all alone, when he woke up, but too polite to wake you. I raised such a misbehaved child. Ah, Junmyeon-Ah, I’m ashamed of my son.” His mom dramatically signed. Chanyeol had said he knew where his dramatic tendencies came from. Jongdae liked to believe he didn’t have dramatic tendencies.

Jongdae narrowed his eyes, but Junmyeon laughed happily.

“I told her, it was no problem, I’m an early riser, always have been. Your mom’s so fun, she told me about that time when you were small and ate her potted plants’ soil. Look, how adorable your looked!” Junmyeon held up a few pictures of Jongdae when he was a toddler, his face dirtied with earth. 

Jongdae felt his face flush, darting forward and grabbing the photos from a startled Junmyeon.

“Oh my god mom, stop embarrassing me!” Jongdae whined and hid the photos to his chest.

“Embarrass? How is that embarrassing, it’s adorable!” Junmyeon argued, his shocked expression overcome and replaced with a bright smile.

“Well, if anyone is embarrassing, it’s you, startling your lovely friend like that. Ah, such poor behaviour.” His mom slapped him with the newspaper and pulled the pictures from his fingers. 

“But mom…” 

“Junmyeon-Ah, please try to teach this prankster here some manners. I have failed, but I have faith in you.” His mom took Junmyeon’s hands, looking at him in desperation.

“Um, I will try?” Junmyeon stuttered. Jongdae whined about being mistreated by his own mother.

“Wonderful. Now, breakfast is ready.”

 

The two of them met up with Baekhyun and Chanyeol by the back entrance. After sneaking a stamp onto Junmyeon’s hand, so he could roam the beach freely as a guest without any of them having to sacrifice their hard-earnt money, Baekhyun took Junmyeon to sit around the snack booth.

It had been Chanyeol’s idea, sometimes he did have brilliant moments, since Baekhyun’s job was the furthest from the water and there was enough shade to ensure Junmyeon wouldn’t be bright red by noon.

Jongdae leaned against the post of the watch out, while Chanyeol was scanning the water. They always teamed up, taking the post the furthest to the right, while their full-time life guard, and most qualified, took the middle post, today supported by Amber, and Soojung and Jongin were on the left.

“So, any idea who we should ask out?” Chanyeol asked, not taking his eyes off the ocean, like the good life guard he was. Jongdae shifted his weigh to the other foot.

“Well, aren’t you the experts on that? Girls and asking them out?”

“True. Ah, I’m happy to share my infinite wisdom.” 

“Right. Keep telling yourself that.” Jongdae snorted.

“Oppa?” A light voice interrupted. Jongdae turned to see two girls, both very pale. 

Now, of course, there were pale girls around their town, so saying only and all tourists were pale wasn’t true. But he knew all the people around his age in their town, at least by face, because, really, it wasn’t that big.

Every year during summer, their population suddenly spiked, when all the hotels and hostels were filled with visitors from all over the country, enjoying the sun and beach in the south.

And these two definitely were tourists.

“Hi.” He beamed at them. 

“Um, we were just wondering, it’s our last day and we think you’re really handsome and you take care of everyone, so could we maybe get a picture?” the shorter of the two asked. Her shoulders were a bit red. It was one of the first places to burn. Jongdae had made sure Junmyeon applied 50+ sun blocker and the mer was dressed in beach-attire that covered them, but he still made a mental note to check on him, so he definitely wouldn’t burn.

“Oh, yeah, no problem.” Jongdae agreed easily. “Do you want Chanyeol, too?” he asked, after they had snapped the selfie.

“Oh, is he Chanyeol-Oppa?” the taller gestured up the watch post. Jongdae nodded. She blushed and agreed, so, he switched with his tall friend, who not only took a picture, but easily involved the girls in a conversation. Their giggles travelled up to Jongdae, who rolled his eyes, but smiled.

 

“Everything all right here?” Jongdae and Chanyeol were sharing the watch post, because there was a parasol up there and the noon sun had started burning down around 11. While their skin was relatively used to it, they still rather not bake in it. They looked down to see their medic, Yixing, looking up.

Next to Yixing was Junmyeon, waving excitedly. Yixing was a year older than them and already in college, but he had gotten the training for advanced first aid years ago, and was their summer-doctor ever since. He was going to go to medical school later and it was really the perfect job.

“Hey Hyung!” Chanyeol hollered. “We’re all good. Jongin and Soojung had two rescues, but that’s it. People don’t feel like getting in the water yet, because the jelly fish are still everywhere, so, less work for us.” 

“Yes, we had a sting to treat earlier.” Yixing nodded. Jongdae decided to climb down to be closer to Junmyeon.

“Are you bored, Junmyeon?” Jongdae asked, side eying Yixing.

“No, not at all. Yixing offered to let me join him. It’s very educational.” Junmyeon shook his head. A few strands had come loose from the braid and framed his face.

“Oh, right, he’s your pen pal, right? I was surprised by his medical knowledge!” Yixing praised. Jongdae watched how Yixing smiled affectionately at Junmyeon.

It didn’t quite sit right with Jongdae. Sure, Yixing was a sweetheart and friends with almost everyone and he loved him dearly as a friend. While he and his friends were also good at making friends, some people were tired out by their personalities. But Yixing… Yixing was just like water, everyone liked water in some way or another. And Yixing was also openly pansexual. Which was the only thing that drove some people away from him, because people were dumb. 

Jongdae admired the older for being brave enough to be open about liking both guys and girls and everything that didn’t fit the categories, even in a small town that had a lot of people with conservative opinions, both old and young. But Yixing was just so likable. Jongdae knew the unsettling feeling was none other than jealousy.

“It’s not much. But I have a lot of experience with jelly fish. They can be quite nasty.” Junmyeon nodded and blushed. Jongdae liked the dusted pink on the mer’s cheeks, but he didn’t like he hadn’t been the reason for it. He called himself out for his silly behaviour. It wasn’t his place to be jealous!

“Absolutely. We’re lucky we don’t usually have Portuguese man o' war.” 

Junmyeon nodded furiously “Those are the worst, despite looking so gorgeous.”

Jongdae felt like he really didn’t need to be here and awkwardly shuffled a few steps back. Junmyeon noticed, to his surprise.

“Oh, sorry, surely, we are bothering you. Looking out for drowning people must be very important.” 

“Right. It is very important.” Jongdae scratched his neck. 

“Not to mention, our life guards are the main attraction next to the white sand.” Yixing winked at him and Jongdae felt himself blush a little, too, just like Junmyeon earlier.

“Why?” Junmyeon furrowed his brows. 

“Well, of course because they’re so devilishly handsome. Look at these abs.” Yixing patted Jongdae’s bare torso, making the flush in his cheeks worse, as he batted Yixing’s hand away, feeling even worse about being jealous, when he was just as affected by Yixing’s charms.

Junmyeon laughed, a pearly, light laughter. “Ah, Hyung, stop it.” Jongdae whined and turned to climb back up where Chanyeol was chuckling. 

 

Their shift ended at 3pm, when Kris and Luhan took their post over for the remaining five hours until Arielle beach would close. 

They headed to the mall down town, where they usually got their hair cut. 

 

“So, you won’t turn, 100% sure?” 

“Yes, if it’s only my hair being washed.” Junmyeon confirmed Jongdae’s question whether or not they would be dealing with a surprise fish tail.

The barber was puzzled, when she looked at Junmyeon’s hair, but ended up accepting the colour as dye. After all, colourful hair was a trend recently. 

Since Baekhyun and Chanyeol figured it’d be a great idea to touch up their roots, they spend a total of three hours there. Junmyeon was done after much shorter, as was Jongdae, and they sat in the waiting area, while Baekhyun and Chanyeol’s hair processed.

“It feels so odd. A lot lighter. I feel like I need to get used to it some.” Junmyeon fiddled his hair. The hair stylist had left the top longer, thick bangs falling over his forehead, but his neck was shaved and Jongdae hadn’t known what to say, when Junmyeon had asked their opinion, speechless by how it was possible for Junmyeon to look even better, after his hair was no longer just dry and … there.

“It looks amazing, don’t worry.” Jongdae tried to reassure him nonchalantly. 

Junmyeon looked up from trying to stare at the too short strands and smiled warmly. “Thank you, Jongdae. I like your hair as well. Here, look.” Junmyeon held a magazine from the stack on the table in the waiting area in front of Jongdae. Apparently, Junmyeon was attracted to all sorts of shiny, printed things. 

The picture showed a male model with his hair in soft curls. “I think you would suit this style. They explain how it is to be done here. May I try that on you some time?” 

“You wanna style my hair?” Jongdae asked. The idea of Junmyeon’s hands in his hair made him a bit giddy in excitement. 

“Yes, if you let me?” 

“Um, yeah, sure, go ahead. Whatever.”

“Wonderful. Do you have a… blow dryer? What’s that?” Junmyeon searched for further explanation on the site he was reading, but obviously the magazine wasn’t going to explain what a blow dryer was. 

“Pretty sure they used one on you earlier. The thing that blows warm air to dry your hair?”

“Oh! I should have thought of that! The name obviously hints it!” Junmyeon slapped his forehead. Jongdae couldn’t help but chuckle at his adorable reaction.

 

“So.” There was burger sauce on Baekhyun’s chin. It wasn’t pretty. His hair was ash blonde now, but that didn’t make the mess on his face any less gross. “Chanyeol and I were thinking and we’d say, let’s try and get Joohyun-Noona to go out with Junmyeon-Hyung.”

Jongdae frowned and threw a napkin at his friend. 

“Who’s that?” Junmyeon asked, straightening up. His interest piqued the moment someone mentioned his quest and it was adorable. Unfortunately, this quest he was so keen on involved him on dates with people that weren’t Jongdae.

“She’s… well, first of all, she’s easily an 11 out of 10.” Baekhyun begun. “Apart from height.” Jongdae cut in, only to earn a judging glance from Baekhyun. 

“Well, Junmyeon’s not very tall either. Anyway, she’s ridiculously pretty and a year older than us, so, your age.” Chanyeol went on.

“But she never dates. She turned down almost every guy in this town, god knows what her standards are.” Jongdae butted in again.

“Well, I think if anyone has chances, it’s Junmyeon, he’s a solid 11 out of 10, too.” Chanyeol argued. “With abs.” Baekhyun smirked.

“Why, are strong abdominal muscles desirable?” Junmyeon inquired.

 

So, Jongdae watched, as Baekhyun and Junmyeon, who was looking extra gorgeous in the ice blue polo shirt he had produced from Jongdae’s closet, approached Joohyun. One of the few pale girls in their town, working in her parents’ hotel. 

Chanyeol was complaining about Yura next to him, and how it was better when she was away in college and he had the bathroom on his own. Anyone who had made up that rumour that straight guys needed only 5 minutes in the bathroom was a liar and Jongdae hoped they felt bad about it.

“Do you think she agreed?” Jongdae whispered, when the girl nodded. Her face was still in her ever present calm expression, not a trace of a smile. She was scary in a way, but Jongdae agreed she was stunningly beautiful. 

“Huh? Oh, Joohyun-Noona?” Chanyeol leaned closer to the window to peek inside. “She’s sorta hard to read, you know?”

But then, Baekhyun turned and flashed them thumbs up. 

“I’d say she agreed.”

“Great.” Jongdae grumbled.

 

Jongdae was facing the door, again, while Junmyeon splashed in the bathtub. 

“You don’t like Joohyun, do you?” he asked suddenly. Jongdae almost spun around to yelp how he had gotten that idea, but he didn’t. He did was not going to make a scene.

“What? No! She’s… pretty.” 

Junmyeon hummed. “I thought you didn’t. Because you kept bringing up reasons why she wasn’t a good choice.”

“What? No! She totally is.” Jongdae repeated, laughing slightly hysterically. 

“Okay. I just… I really value your opinion and if you thought she wasn’t a good fit, I’d tell Baekhyun I didn’t want to go out with her.” Jongdae could picture Baekhyun staring into his soul, frying him with a glare.

He had most likely already figured out, Jongdae was crushing on the mer. He did not need to feed that idea in his friend. And it was also not unlikely Baekhyun had figured out a way to make his involvement with Joohyun accepting a date look himself more attractive to girls.

“No, you should absolutely go out with her. It’s a miracle she agreed, but, really, she’d be an idiot to say no. But why? You don’t know me better than Baekhyun. Why trust me over him?”

“Well, I live with you. And… I don’t know. I just do.” The sound of water flushing down the drain started. 

“No, Joohyun is a great choice. It’ll be hot news all over town.” Junmyeon laughed his wonderful laugh at that.

“Okay. If you say so, I’m sure it’ll be good. Say, how did you become a life guard? I asked Baekhyun about it and it means you’re extremely good at swimming, right?” 

“Well, I don’t know extremely, but you have to be able to pull someone out of the water.” 

“Humans really are keen on adapting to any situation, aren’t they?” Junmyeon chuckled. 

“I mean, many animals swim? Dogs….” 

“Still. Humans seem to always be able to adjust, if they just put their mind to it. Hey, Jongdae, what do you do on a date?” 

Jongdae stared at the door. Well, what did you do?

“Did you ask Baek? I have about as much knowledge about dates, as you. I’ve never been on one.”

“I did, but I think I’m sort of nervous? I still cannot seem to figure out why no one would ask you to go on a date with them.”

“You know what? We should just watch a really cheesy movie. They go on dates all the time in romantic films.”

 

Okay, so, they probably weren’t subtle at all, sitting four tables away from Joohyun and Junmyeon in the Do’s ice café not too far from Arielle beach. 

“You know, the ice cream is probably melting from your stares.” Kyungsoo deadpanned, after slamming a coke in front of Chanyeol with so much force it nearly spilled. The younger had perfected the art of slamming drinks without actually spilling them, because his mom would make his both pay for them and clean it up.

There was only one person scarier than Kyungsoo and that was his mom.

“Shut up, she has no idea we’re here.” Baekhyun hissed. Chanyeol pushed his Wayfarer’s up his nose, the only one whose back was turned to the couple. 

“Right. Shall I pass you a Mickey detective kit, so you look even more subtle?” Chanyeol laughed loudly at Kyungsoo’s suggestion. Junmyeon looked over at them, meeting Jongdae’s eyes for a moment and smiling. “Laugh a bit louder, why don’t you?” Baekhyun snarled and kicked Chanyeol under the table.

“Kyungsoo, table four.” His brother yelled from the counter. 

“Fine. Have fun stalking Jongdae’s pen pal on his… date.” Kyungsoo flashed Jongdae a weird glance.

 

“I can’t believe you both didn’t want to go on a second date. I mean… it looked perfect! She laughed!” Baekhyun wailed, throwing himself over the Park’s sofa.

“But it was… nice, like if I had gone on a date with… Chanyeol. And you said it was supposed to feel exciting, sparkly. I don’t know?”

Baekhyun pouted.

“Yes, it does. Well, for some reason, I don’t know why, Joohyun-Noona just wasn’t the right girl. Not to worry, there’s plenty of girls left to date.” Chanyeol reassured him, as Baekhyun went into full on sulking mood. Jongdae, on the contrary, felt like they day couldn’t end any better.

 

Mornings until 3 pm saw Chanyeol and Jongdae on their watch post, with Junmyeon sitting on the ground, talking about swimming, fish, fashion and things humans did that Junmyeon found peculiar. He had borrowed a sun hat from Jongdae’s mom. Chanyeol had pointed out it was a women’s hat, but Junmyeon had pointed out how pretty the blue ribbon around the straw was and why only women should get to wear pretty ribbons, to which Chanyeol had looked at Jongdae in confusion, who had just shrugged.

Junmyeon seemed completely oblivious to the people who send him dirty glances, and Jongdae made sure to glare back in his place, so Jongdae didn’t worry about his sense of fashion, which varied between stunning and just… odd.

Afterwards, the three stalked Junmyeon’s date of the day, all supplied by Baekhyun.

After Joohyun, it was Seungwan, Seulgi, Sunyoung, Jinri and Qian. And it turned out, all the girls started hanging around them after their dates with Junmyeon, while Jongdae tried watching the water for people drowning. Which was sort of difficult with Junmyeon chuckling so sweetly from next to the watch post and sometimes asking him questions he loved to answer.

“Dude, I don’t understand anymore. Junmyeon-Hyung literally brings all the girls to the yard, but he never goes to second dates? How on earth is that working?” Chanyeol asked, shaking the water out of his hair after pulling a little girl back ashore.

“No idea.” 

“I’m not complaining, you know Seulgi’s friend, Sooyoung? I’ll ask her out.” 

“Really? When do you plan on doing that?” Jongdae smirked.

“Like… soon.”

“Right. Baekhyun and I have a bet going whether or not you actually will, you know?” 

“I hate both of you.”

“No, you don’t.”

“No, I don’t.”

 

Since Junmyeon was a guest, he was excluded from Mrs. Kim, who happily appointed all chores to her sons over summer to enjoy some well-deserved free time. But because it was Junmyeon, he excitedly helped Jongdae, anyways.

“I wished we could have soap under water! I simply love these bubbles. Too bad it wouldn’t work.” Junmyeon blew the bubbles from the dish washer, he had fished off Jongdae’s dish-washing-water, out the open kitchen window. 

“I don’t think it would. You said you used writing, how does that even work?” 

“Waterproof ink. You humans have everything waterproof, of course we have that, too.” Junmyeon chuckled and gently nudged Jongdae’s shoulder.

“The palace has a wonderful library. I spend most my time there. I don’t have official duties, because I’m the youngest, and my father only had me schooled in regular subjects. He always said I should go and socialise more, but in the end, I spent all my time in there. I guess that was part of why he said he’d marry me off. Maybe, if I’d just joined more meetings…” Junmyeon signed sadly.

“Don’t worry. Baek will find someone and we’ll get you out of that, showing your father love exists.”

“I… I hope so. Thank you. Oh, and it’s more about me being able to find love? I think I didn’t make that clear?” Junmyeon picked up the wet glass and started drying it off. 

“Okay, so, you do believe in love? But he still marries you off?” Jongdae inquired, his image of the underwater-world shifting a bit at that new information.

“Yes, we do. I don’t think it’s as important as up here, and there’s no such lovely stories about it. But marriage is often because of common interests, you know?” Junmyeon shrugged.

“I think I get it. In the stories, the princesses sometimes get married off, too, because of that.” 

“Yes, I think you might be able to compare.” Junmyeon hummed in agreement. 

Too bad, that while Junmyeon was a Prince from a mysterious kingdom, Jongdae was no knight in shining armour.

 

“Hyung, I’m really running about of options here.” Baekhyun whined over the sound of the blow dryer. “The only girls I could think of to ask out are Sooyoung, which Chanyeol is never going to ask out, but she’s still off limits, Soojung, who is with Jongin, and Yerim, but I’m meeting her tonight, so, no. Everyone else is too old, too young or too taken.” 

Jongdae’s head was whipped back, as Junmyeon dragged the brush through hit, hitting it with the hot air of the blow dryer. “And half our time’s already up.” Chanyeol yelped. 

Jongdae frowned. While he was oddly happy seeing Junmyeon turning down all the girls, it also meant the mer’s mission failing, which was no in his interest.

“Well, I mean, I thought we’d succeed faster, too. But… it just wasn’t what I imagined. I’m sure love is not that. I feel the same as I feel for my pet shark on the dates. I mean, they’re all really sweet to talk to, but, not what I’m looking for.” Junmyeon accidentally blow dried Baekhyun’s face, who yelped.

“Wait? You have a pet shark?” Jongdae interrupted. 

“Yes, I do. It’s like you humans holding these pet wolves!” Junmyeon supplied.

“Okay, cool, yes for pet sharks, let’s get back to the dating-issue. We have to look for someone on Luhan’s party tonight. There’ll be lots of tourist girls, since you’re one, too, I don’t see why it can’t be some city girl’s summer romance.” Chanyeol perked up. Junmyeon generously sprayed hairspray on Jongdae, making him almost choke.

“Summer romance sounds nice. Tell me again, what you’re supposed to do at a party?” Junmyeon asked innocently, tilting Jongdae’s hair. He stared at Junmyeon’s face freely, while the mer judged his own work on Jongdae’s head. 

“Wow, Dae, you actually look decent!” Baekhyun teased. 

“I want that, too, Hyung! Just, can you do this where it’s pushed back like this?” Chanyeol held his hair up. 

“Sure.” Junmyeon beamed at the taller.

“Well, how’s that crush on Minseok-Hyung going, Dae? Maybe he will actually look twice at you now, after impressing him with those rippling muscles didn’t work?” Chanyeol grinned, while taking Jongdae’s place on the floor in front of his closet, that had a mirror.

“Oh, believe me, Minseok-Hyung is long forgotten.” Baekhyun announced, his eyes darting between Jongdae and Junmyeon, as he stretched on the Futon.

“Shut up, Yeol, I’m long over that. He’s straight, anyway.” Jongdae grumbled.

“You had a crush on Minseok-Hyung? But… he’s male!” Junmyeon asked, starting to comb through Chanyeol’s damb, messy hair, making the taller’s head snap back with every stroke of the comb. Jongdae felt himself pale. He had spoken a lot with Junmyeon, cultivating his crush happily, but he hadn’t come out to him. 

Crap!

“Oh shit, I’m so sorry, Dae!” Chanyeol started flailing his arms, when he realised his mistake.

Junmyeon watched him for a moment, before looking at Jongdae again, curiosity in his eyes. “Right, he’s a guy, that’s because I’m gay, but no one knows, so please don’t tell anyone?” Jongdae tried to keep his voice free from the suffocating anxiety he felt.

“So, you like men?” Junmyeon raised his fingers, waving them in the air a little, like it was going to help him think.

“Yep.” Jongdae said, popping the p. The bedroom drowned in awkward silence. A rare occurrence with the three of them around.

“Then I could go on a date with a guy, too?” Junmyeon asked, eyes suddenly glittering.

Baekhyun gasped: “What? Yes! Fuck, that’s why all the prettiest girls didn’t do it for you, oh my god, how didn’t I think of this?”

“I feel like such an idiot! How are we friends with Dae and completely forgot about that?” Chanyeol yelled much too loudly. 

“Probably because Dae is just… boring. I mean, can he do these awesome hairstyles?” 

“Excuse me? I’m right here.” Jongdae pouted. Junmyeon flashed a bright smile at him. The feeling of suffocation vanished into nothing and it even felt like something was lifted off his chest, making breathing easier than before, with Junmyeon not being disgusted, or weirded out, questioning if his sexuality was even a legit thing to exist. 

 

“Alright, sooo Yixing totally agreed on going out with you. Date’s the day after tomorrow, so we still have a comfortable five days till the deadline.” Baekhyun was slurring the words a little, Yerim poking his shoulder to get his attention.

“Oppa, come on, I love this song, let’s dance!” Yerim giggled. She was probably just as drunk. It wasn’t impossible he hadn’t even asked Yixing the right question.

Jongdae and Junmyeon had retreated to a sofa in some corner. So far, four couples sucking faces had tried to scare them away so they could engage in more questionable action, but Junmyeon was oblivious and Jongdae in no hurry to leave the comfort of the sofa, where he could sit right next to the mer, talking over the music, that wasn’t as loud here.

Baekhyun, on the other hand, had taken off to simultaneously impress Yerim and score a date for Junmyeon with the only guy he knew up to it and Chanyeol had left them, after 20 minutes of getting himself tipsy, for Kris and Minseok, though even from afar it was obvious it wasn’t their tall friend who was on top of his flirting game with the pale tourist girls.

“Really?” Jongdae and Junmyeon both asked at the same time. Jongdae was frowning hard, while Junmyeon seemed just surprised. 

“Yeeees, thank me later! Okay, now, I’ll go dancing with this pretty girl. And! Chanyeol! He asked Sooyoung! I think. They were standing close before.”

Baekhyun grinned and let Yerim drag him along. 

Junmyeon slumped on the sofa. He looked similar to how Jongdae felt. 

“I kind of hoped he’d say no.” Junmyeon muttered, just loud enough for Jongdae to hear.

“Hey, what’s so bad about Yixing? You already know him. He’s handsome and… kind and smart?” Jongdae suggested, not feeling genuine at all.

Junmyeon pouted and Jongdae found himself staring at his lips, which looked just so kissable like that. But he couldn’t.

“Look, it’s not that easy being gay. You know? Some people think differently of you, once they find out. Many consider it unnatural and it’s even forbidden in some countries. People might think less of you, or avoid you, or think you do certain things, just because if it. Some think it’s a phase, a choice, something not to take seriously. That’s why I’m not open about it. I know I can trust Baek and Yeol, and you, I guess, I mean you trust us with your secret, too. But I’m scared how people will react. Some people talk bad about Yixing, because he’s open. They talk bad about celebrities, who are LGBTQ+, just anyone. It’s not fun.”

Junmyeon’s eyes widened.

“What? But… isn’t love just a really great thing? Why would people be mean about it?” 

“I don’t know. And since you wondered, that’s why I haven’t been on a date. It’s a small town. People would notice.”

“That’s… I feel so bad. I never knew people would be like this about something I admire so much, like love.”

Jongdae stared at him. At the bright blue eyes, so full of sadness and confusion, his mouth, turned down, his cheeks, that were a bit flushed from the heat in the room.

And Junmyeon started leaning a little closer and Jongdae just couldn’t tear his eyes off his lips and wonder what they’d feel like against his?

“Well, I don’t know. Hey, so, since you have a date for in two days and I’m not going to get drunk, let’s go outside and wait until we have to drag Baek and Yeol home. It’s kind of hot in here, isn’t it?” Jongdae jumped off the sofa.

Junmyeon blinked up, and then nodded.

 

“I feel like I’m dying.” Baekhyun mumbled. The curtains of Chanyeol’s room were drawn closed and the irregular sound of groaning in pain from the two of them echoed through the room, while Junmyeon flipped through Yura’s fashion magazines, pointing out thing he liked to Jongdae, who was not interested in fashion, but watched Junmyeon trace over the outfits in interest. 

“Well, I told you so.” Jongdae fired back. 

“Shhhh, not so loud.” Baekhyun croaked. 

“Drink your water.” Jongdae advised with little sympathy.

“I will throw up.” Chanyeol wheezed. 

“I do not understand why you would drink alcohol, if it makes you feel so bad the next day.” Junmyeon whispered. 

“Because it feels good! You try it on Friday, at the beach party. Then you’ll know.” Baekhyun whined. 

“Friday… that’s… the deadline.” Junmyeon muttered. Jongdae felt his chest constrict. After Friday, Junmyeon would be gone, just like he came out of nowhere, he’d be gone to nowhere, never for him to see again.

“Even more reason to do so.” Baekhyun muttered.

“Don’t worry. Your date with Yixing will be a success, I’m sure!” Jongdae softly encouraged the mer. Junmyeon looked at him and Jongdae, for once, couldn’t tell what he was thinking, because the faint light was right behind Junmyeon, creating a halo around his head and shadowing his eyes.

“Which would mean, he’s not here anymore by Friday, anyway.” Jongdae snapped annoyed. 

“Sorry. Let’s fight later?” Baekhyun whimpered.

Jongdae grunted and snuggled a little closer to Junmyeon, who welcomed the action. Jongdae wasn’t sure why, but they apparently had become cuddle buddies over waiting for Baekhyun and Chanyeol yesterday and Junmyeon fit perfectly against him, which was both wonderful and awful, because Jongdae knew Junmyeon didn’t think about it the same way he did.

“I’m not sure, if I can get my true love’s kiss.” Junmyeon whispered and Jongdae just squeezed his shoulder.

 

Junmyeon didn’t come to Arielle beach that morning, instead staying home to help Jongdae’s mom with making strawberry jam. 

The girls asked where he was and left, after Jongdae told them he wouldn’t show up, much to Chanyeol’s disappointment.

“So, I take it you didn’t ask Sooyoung out?” Jongdae smirked at Chanyeol, hiding his bad mood over missing his favourite mer.

Chanyeol sulked. “I wanted to, but… the words wouldn’t come out!”

“Well, that means Baek owes me 20,000 won. Thanks, man!” Chanyeol glared at him.

“Yo! Jongdae, Chanyeol.” Minseok called from the ground below them. “Hyung. What is it?” 

“Just checking on you. Hey, I heard your pen pal is going on a date with Xing?” Minseok asked. 

“Oh, yeah. Why?” 

Minseok grinned. “Xing took the afternoon off, but wouldn’t spill and Baekhyun skirted around the topic, so, I’m just here to confirm my assumption. I didn’t know he swung that way.”

Jongdae tensed. “Well, he does. It’s not a problem, right?”

“Nah, why would it? Don’t be paranoid, Dae, I’m not some homophobic ass.” 

“Right. Sure. I didn’t expect you to be. Sorry, Hyung.” Jongdae felt a bit silly. Of course, Minseok wouldn’t bother. He was close friends with Yixing, after all. All the assholes had left Yixing.

“Anyway, Kris said he fixed the loose arm rest, is that working fine?” Minseok changed topics.

“The left?” Chanyeol asked and started wobbling it so much, the whole post started shaking and Jongdae yelped and held onto the rail. 

“Are you trying to kill us, Chanyeol?” Jongdae roared, turning to strangle his friend, using his build up frustration and the fresh adrenaline from fearing to fall to his death off the watch post.

“I take it it’s fixed. Alright, I have to get back to the front.” Minseok laughed and left.

“I’m sorry, Dae! I surely wouldn’t want to kill so you die a virgin.” Chanyeol cackled, as Jongdae wrapped his hands around his neck.

“Shut the fuck up, Park, as if you got more than some lousy hand job yourself.” Jongdae snarled, pressing a bit to make a point without hurting too much.

“It wasn’t lousy.” Chanyeol wheezed and Jongdae let himself be shoved off by his long arms. 

“But seriously, after setting Hyung up on so many dates, I feel like we should get you some action next. You know, when he’s gone on Saturday?”

Jongdae frowned at the idea of planning post-Junmyeon. He preferred not thinking about post-Junmyeon at all. Who would blow dry his hair? Who would hum along to his singing? Who would help him vacuum the house and ask how electricity worked with wide eyes? 

“Right and where do you want to find more guys to date, apart from Yixing? And no, I’m not going out with Yixing.” Jongdae shot his friend down.

Chanyeol closed his mouth. 

“See? That’s what I thought.” Jongdae snorted. 

“I just wanted to help.” Chanyeol muttered. 

Jongdae stared at the waves. Then, he signed. “Yeah, I know. Sorry for snapping at you.”


	3. Chapter 3

“But I don’t wanna go. Okay? I feel stupid watching all these dates. Junmyeon can just go on his own.” Jongdae whined, staying on his spot on the bench in their changing room.

“No, dear sir, you are not skipping on us.” Baekhyun shook his head. 

“Do you really want to miss ice cream?” Chanyeol asked, eyes wide.

“And Yixing will recognise us. It’ll be so embarrassing.” Jongdae went on, not moving.

“Well, we’ll say we’re there by chance. Yerim is coming with us, it’s like Baek’s on a date himself.” Chanyeol argued, waving his arms.

“Right. A date. With the two of us. Very likely.” Jongdae deadpanned.

“It’ll be suspicious if you suddenly stop coming. Like you don’t care about him. You know how Junmyeon-Hyung is. He’ll worry and feel bad and apologise for no reason. Do you want to make Hyung feel bad just because you’re jealous?” Baekhyun crossed his arms, tapping his foot.

“Jealous?” Chanyeol asked, his arms dropping to his sides, looking between the two of them.

“I’m not jealous. Fine, I’m coming.” Jongdae hissed, as Chanyeol started nagging a smug Baekhyun why Jongdae would be jealous.

 

“Wow, you’re here. Again. To stalk Junmyeon-Hyung. Again.” Kyungsoo said in a passive voice, while typing down their order.

“It’s so exciting! I never knew a gay person, isn’t it just so cute to see them together? I’m so excited our town is getting more liberal.” Yerim squeaked. Kyungsoo rose an eyebrow and looked at Jongdae. 

“Indeed, what a rare and exotic species, so different from us regular, straight people.” The younger commented, tapping his biro on the memo pad he wanted to write their order down.

“That’s not what I said, Kyungsoo, don’t be silly, they’re not different from us.” Yerim complained. 

“Oh. Well, it sounded like that’s what you thought when you just squeaked about them like you would over a puppy.” Yerim pouted, but seemed to reflect on her words. 

“I see what you mean, Yerim. Junmyeon’s really brave for going on a date like that.” Jongdae smiled.

“I know, right? That’s what I was saying, Kyungsoo!” Yerim told their grumpy waiter.

“You know, I’m really sure you three are the worst match makers of all time, and also, very blind.” Kyungsoo signed and left them, after taking their orders.

“Wow, I think he’s the complete opposite image of ice cream. It’s just because he’s so good looking they haven’t run out of business over him.” Baekhyun grinned.

Jongdae rolled his eyes. For some reason, Baekhyun and Chanyeol seemed to be triggered into teasing Kyungsoo until he’d hurt them with either words or actions. The boy was a year younger than them, but he had a sort of honorary place in their trio and was one of their closest friends.

“Alright, Yixing-Hyung’s here.” Chanyeol interrupted, hiding under his baseball hat. It was a near perfect disguise, if Chanyeol weren’t tree-sized and had fire engine red hair.

Jongdae had taken the seat with his back to the couple today, because he wasn’t into masochism. 

“Here you go, I even included a very professional magnifying glass, because all professional detectives, such as yourselves, need that.” Kyungsoo said, slamming their orders on the table as usually, followed by a napkin on which he had drawn a simplified magnifying glass. 

Jongdae actually found himself chuckling, despite his bad mood. 

 

“We did it! Baekhyun, we are actual geniuses.” Chanyeol wailed, falling into the smaller male’s arms, when Junmyeon said he had another date with Yixing on Thursday. 

“Thank you, really, all three of you.” Junmyeon smiled his soft smile, that made him look like an actual angel. “Well, did you plan it by the ocean shore? To get your true love’s kiss?” Baekhyun inquired. 

“We didn’t agree on a place yet?” Junmyeon shrugged. 

“Okay, I know just the place, though. Secluded and directly by the shore. It’ll be perfect.” Baekhyun announced, eyes staring into the distance. 

 

“Wow, Hyung, are you okay?” Jongin grabbed Jongdae’s arm, when he left first aid, where a beaming Yixing had taken a girl with a nasty gash off his arms. 

Jongdae jerked from his sulking. “Hm? Oh, yeah, I’m fine.” Jongin narrowed his eyes.

“No, you’re not. Your cat corners aren’t up!” he pointed at his own mouth to illustrate what he was talking about. Jongdae chuckled weakly. 

“Thanks, Jongin. I’m just… in a bad mood.” 

Jongin nodded slowly. “Is it because of your pen pal? He looked sad, too, when I saw him today.” 

“Junmyeon? He did? But why would he be sad, that doesn’t make sense…” Jongdae mumbled. Junmyeon was supposed to be happy, after all, he was going out with Yixing and was going to get his kiss tonight and then return home to his father, get out of marriage and live happily ever after.

“Well, I think he looked sad, because Junmyeon-Hyung’s always smiling.”

“He is, right? He’s such a positive person.” Jongdae muttered, smiling at the memory of Junmyeon smiling at him. When he looked up at Jongin again, the other boys’ eyebrows had risen on his forehead.

“Oh, Hyung, you like him, right?” Jongin whispered. Jongdae gaped at Jongin. How had he figured that out? Was he that obvious? No, he couldn’t, or more people would have figured out… no one, but Baekhyun knew, right?

“What? No, I….” “I won’t tell anyone! But, Hyung, you need to tell Junmyeon-Hyung.” Jongin urged him, taking his shoulder and shaking a little.

“No. He’s going out with Yixing and he’ll leave soon. There’s no reason to.” Jongdae turned him down.

Jongin frowned and shook his head. “No. They’re just dating, they’re not in a relationship. And if he’s going to leave, it’s even more important you tell him!”

“Jongin, you don’t understand! It’s a really bad idea.”

The younger boy crossed his arms. On any other day, Jongdae would have gotten distracted, because Jongin had very, very nice arms, but since the thunderstorm, Jongdae hadn’t gotten distracted by neither Jongin’s tan, shredded physique, nor Minseok’s shorter, but just as strong form, or any other half-naked male’s that he would consider attractive.

“Well, I don’t think so. I’m sure you’ll regret it, if you don’t at least try. I mean, Junmyeon-Hyung didn’t look happy, either. Maybe he’s just trying to make you jealous by going out with Yixing-Hyung. Maybe he returns your feelings? You never know, if you don’t tell him how you feel.”

Jongdae actually quirked a smile at the idea. “No, Jongin, I’m sure that isn’t the case at all. He said he’s just friends with me.” 

Jongin didn’t seem convinced. “Did he?”

Actually… he hadn’t. Jongdae thought about the conversation and Junmyeon had only used Baekhyun and Chanyeol as examples, but not him.

“Well, I think you should tell him, regardless, Hyung. Seize the day!” Jongin beamed and slapped his shoulder encouragingly. 

 

“So, I have candles, soda, sandwiches and a blanket in here.” Chanyeol counted. 

“Thanks, Chanyeol. I really appreciate your efforts.” Junmyeon smiled, but his eyes didn’t crinkle up. 

“This is goodbye then?” Jongdae asked, voice cracking a bit. “If I get a true love’s kiss tonight, I’ll return home. But I’ll come back for your wishes, don’t worry!” Junmyeon smiled his fake smile. Jongdae didn’t like it.

Baekhyun engulfed him in a tight hug. “You better!”

“I still don’t believe we hosted a mer. Wait, guys! I never saw his tail! What if you all just lied to me in an elaborate prank?” Chanyeol gasped. 

“Don’t be stupid, Park.” Jongdae lightly punched his friend. He had seen a lot of Junmyeon’s tail in the bathtub. And of Junmyeon’s abs and arms and…

“You can see it when I come back. Promise.” Junmyeon chuckled.

Chanyeol hugged him, and then Jongdae wrapped his arms around the other. Junmyeon was barely shorter than him, and he fit so nicely in his arms. “You better come back!” he whispered in Junmyeon’s ear, before pulling back to avoid crying embarrassingly. 

He missed Junmyeon’s pink cheeks and Baekhyun’s raising eyebrows.

 

Because Baekhyun was a great friend under all his teasing, they went to the cinema for distraction, and had some BK on their way home. 

Jongdae felt like he had been awake for 48 hours, when he finally walked up their driveway, limbs heavy and mind sort of blurry. He just wanted to roll up on Junmyeon’s Futon and sleep or maybe cry. It hadn’t felt like this, when he had realised Minseok would never return his feelings. This just sucked.

Maybe crushing on straight guys was the better option over crushing on unattainable gay guys?

However, on the steps sat a person, curled up and perfectly still, seemingly asleep, and further inspection with the flashlight of his phone revealed blue hair. 

“Junmyeon?” Jongdae gasped, carefully shaking the other awake, who blinked up into the light. His eyes were a bit red, like he had been crying. 

“Why are you here? Why aren’t you home?” Jongdae asked impatiently. Why was this happening? Junmyeon’s time was running out!

“It didn’t work.” Junmyeon croaked. 

“What? How didn’t it work? Why?” Jongdae asked, crouching down next to him.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Junmyeon glared at the ground.

“Come on, this is really bad, how could it not work? You don’t have any time left, your deadline is tomorrow!” Junmyeon looked up again. 

“Do you think I don’t know?” his voice was laced by hurt, but Jongdae was so stressed over the fact that he might not be able to help Junmyeon, he snapped back:

“Well, why didn’t you try harder then?”

“I tried, okay? I thought this was a lot easier! If I had known love was this complicated, I would have asked for more time or just not come. It’s really all your humans’ fault, because you seem to be so keen on discriminating each other over trivial matters.” Junmyeon was crying and Jongdae wanted to take back his words.

“Did someone say something to you? Please, Junmyeon I really want to help you!” 

“No, no one was mean to me.”

Jongdae didn’t know what to say. Junmyeon was shaking, and he knew the mer wasn’t telling him everything.

“Please, tell me!” 

“I can’t. I’m sorry. It… I failed. I’m sorry you won’t get your wish.”

“Junmyeon, you don’t think I want to help you, because I want to be granted a wish?”

“Well, don’t you?” Junmyeon hissed and Jongdae felt another wave of anger, but he kept calm.

“No. Don’t be silly. Finding a mer in a kid’s pool? That’s just really awesome. And when I got to know you better, I realised how great a person you are. Aren’t we…. Friends? Friends help each other, even if they don’t get a free wish. No one deserved to be bound in a marriage they aren’t happy in, right?”

Junmyeon nodded slowy. 

“Sorry for accusing you. I… I hope we are friends. And you really did your best. I mean, it’s really me, who’s to blame. As I said: love is far more complicated than I anticipated. I mean, you must know. You can’t even tell your family you like men over women.”

Junmyeon smiled sadly and Jongdae helped him up, letting them back inside.

The mer was fast asleep, when Jongdae returned from the bathroom. He checked on him, before sneaking downstairs to grab some water. His mother was at the kitchen table, engrossed in a book, her reading glasses low on her nose.

She looked up when he stalked inside.

“Ah, Jongdae, I heard you two return earlier. Are you alright? I thought I heard sniffing, but I didn’t want to be an embarrassing mom and check.” She smiled the same kitten smile Jongdae had. 

“Yeah, everything’s great.” Jongdae croaked. She set down her book. 

“Sit down, Dae.” She smiled warmly and Jongdae didn’t argue, but set his glass on the table and slumped on a chair.

“You said Junmyeon was leaving tonight. I told him goodbye, but now, he came back.” She started. Jongdae froze. Right. How could he have forgotten that? Stupid, they should have just stayed at Chanyeol’s.

“Yeah, um, something came up. He’ll leave tomorrow. For sure.” Jongdae stared at his water, like the bottled water from some glacier was to blame for Junmyeon’s home being some ocean castle.

“Don’t worry, he’s welcome as long as he wants, he’s such a sweet person to be around. And so well behaved.” She chuckled.

“Yeah, he is.” Jongdae signed. His mom took his hand from the glass and patted it with her other, making a warm cocoon around it. 

“So, will he come back any time?” she asked gently.

“I… I hope so. I just like him so much, I think I might have fallen in love with him, I…. er.” Jongdae jerked up, noticing his mistake. 

“Ah. I had a guess. But I wasn’t sure.” Her mom smiled. 

“I’m glad you told me, Jongdae. You know you can trust me, alright? This doesn’t make me love you any less.” She patted his hand and Jongdae felt tears roll down his cheeks. 

“Oh, come here, honey.” She got off her chair and pulled him into a tight hug. 

“Now, let your mom tell you something: you need to be honest with the one you like. Tell him. I have a good feeling about this.”

Jongdae wiped his cheeks and nodded.

 

So, he was going to tell Junmyeon. For sure.

It was the first time, Jongdae woke up before the mer, who was sleeping in a tiny ball. Jongdae smiled, trying to save the picture on his mental hard drive. 

So, he didn’t tell Junmyeon in the morning.

 

Junmyeon wore a soft pink t-shirt and the Aviators he had bought shopping with Joohyun and Seulgi. Jongdae may or may not be neglecting his duty as a life guard a bit in favour of staring at the mer every once in a while.

Jinri and Sunyoung were roasting in the sun next to Junmyeon in the shade. 

“Are you even listening? Hello? Earth to Kim Jongdae?” Chanyeol waved a hand in front of his face.

“What? Yes.”

“Alright, you weren’t listening, because I asked you what you were going to wear and if Junmyeon would be doing our hair, since he said he was just going to enjoy the last day? So, what’s wrong. Tell uncle Chanyeol.”

“You’re younger than me, brat. I told my mom.” 

“What did you tell her?” Chanyeol asked, stretching his arms and passing him the binocular. 

“That I’m gay?” Jongdae hissed. Chanyeol yelped and choked on thin air and started coughing. Jongdae watched his friend with a raised eyebrow. 

“Oh my god! What the hell is with this day, so many dramatic turns!” Chanyeol pressed between coughs and Jongdae looked around to check if anyone was paying them attention. It wouldn’t be that surprising for Chanyeol to accidentally scream his sexuality from the watch post. 

“What did she say?” 

“She was – no, is, really supportive.” Jongdae smiled. 

Chanyeol wrapped him in a suffocating hug. “I’m so happy for you!” 

“So, aren’t you supposed to be working?” Minseok called from the ground.

Junmyeon looked up at Jongdae, and he wasn’t sure where exactly he was looking, because of the shades they both were wearing, but the mer quickly turned his head away and Jongdae liked to imagine their eyes had met.

Well, he also didn’t tell Junmyeon during his guarding duty.

 

The mood at the Parks’ was a bit depressed.

“I can’t believe we just can’t do anything. I hate this! I want to help you!” Baekhyun stomped up and down in Chanyeol’s room.

“Baekhyun, it’s fine. You helped me a lot! All of you. I learnt so much staying here. Let me wash your hair and style it. Yerim will be delighted.”

“Just when I think you started talking like a normal person, you throw a delighted at me! Ah, how can someone be so adorable?” Baekhyun wailed and crushed Junmyeon in a tight hug.

Jongdae stared at the mirror and his hair that was falling down in soft curls. Each touch had been agony and wonderful at the same time.

“If we can’t get you to get a true love’s kiss, I will at least make sure you have the best night possible, Hyung!” Chanyeol announced loudly. 

“Alright. Impress me.”

Needless to say, Jongdae was too busy staring at Junmyeon and fighting tears to tell him in the afternoon.

 

“So, how does this look?” Junmyeon asked. His hair was carefully styled up into a perfect curl over his forehead. He wore a t-shirt a few shades darker than his hair that was just tight enough to hint what was hiding underneath and a pair of dark washed skinny jeans. His necklace fell over the shirt and he looked so gorgeous, Jongdae didn’t know what to say.

“Amazing, Hyung, absolutely handsome!” Baekhyun chirped instead.

“Now, let’s update our bet. I want my money back, Dae! 30 Bucks Yeol finally gets his shit together tonight.”

Jongdae cleared his throat: “No. I think he might finally ask tonight, too. I’m not doing any bets.”

Well, he was projecting his confidence in Chanyeol onto himself. 

He didn’t tell Junmyeon before they arrived at the beach.

 

“Wow, it looks spectacular.” Junmyeon awed. “Arielle beach at night really is special.” Jongdae agreed. 

“Alright, I’ll look for my stunning girlfriend.” Baekhyun announced “But don’t worry, I’ll be back.” 

“I’ll find some drinks. I know Minseok-Hyung’s a bit prissy with underage drinking, but Luhan’s not as uptight. Or Kris.” Chanyeol grinned and started pushing through the crowd, leaving the two of them conveniently alone. It was the perfecto opportunity, served on a silver platter.

Junmyeon turned to Jongdae, who was about to finally say the words, but forgot them, when he looked at the way the fairy lights made Junmyeon look even more angelic than usually: “I would like to dance. Would you join me, Jongdae?”

Jongdae was anything, but a good dancer, but Junmyeon radiated happiness, as the twirled to the music over the sand, he didn’t find himself caring he was probably making himself look like an idiot.

Baekhyun and Yerim bumped into them on purpose, and Chanyeol joined them to pass their drinks. If there was a worse dancer than Jongdae, it was Chanyeol, because his limbs just were too long for him to dance. 

 

Somehow, Jongdae forgot Junmyeon would leave before midnight, but the mer didn’t.

“Hey, um, Jongdae? It’s eleven now, so… I’ll leave.” Junmyeon said, smiling bravely, like the night before.

“No. I’ll come with you!” Jongdae panicked. He had to tell him, because he was literally running out of time.

“Okay. Let me find Baekhyun and Chanyeol. I said goodbye to most other people earlier already.” Junmyeon nodded.

They found Baekhyun singing loudly along to the music with Yerim in his arms and definitely drunk, again, and Chanyeol talking to Kyungsoo. Jongdae didn’t miss the way the younger stared at them, when Junmyeon gave Chanyeol a hug and Jongdae just stood there awkwardly. 

“Last chance to tell him.” Kyungsoo’s deep voice suddenly said and he was nudged by the other. Jongdae startled, wondering how he could have missed the shorter standing next to him, but he was a bit tipsy and Junmyeon was looking great from behind, too.

“Huh?” he turned to Kyungsoo, who had been replaced by the blue haired mer in the time Jongdae had taken to realise what Kyungsoo – why him? – meant.

“Let’s go.” Junmyeon tugged on Jongdae’s shirt and they left the lights and the people behind, making their way over the moon lit white beach to the shore. They weren’t extremely well hidden, not like the place they had chosen for yesterday’s date, but it was unlikely anyone would see them. After all, it was suicide to go swimming in the pacific in the middle of the night. Rocks rose next to them, as they reach the far left of Arielle beach.

“Junmyeon, just a second. Before you leave, I have to tell you, because… I was scared to tell you earlier, because I’m a coward and just run my mouth to cover that up, but anyway.” Junmyeon looked at him, the moonlight reflecting in his blue eyes. 

“You’re not a coward.” He laughed “Don’t sell yourself short! I told you before, when you said you weren’t handsome, because you are!” Junmyeon pushed his index against Jongdae’s forehead.

Jongdae’s face felt even hotter now. Damn, he had never done this before and watching movies turned out to not prepare him at all for this situation.

“Ireallylikeyoubecauseyouresoprettyandkindandfunnyevenifyourjokesareabitlamesometimesandimightbeinlovewithyou.” Jongdae finally blurted out. Oh god, that had been way too fast, hadn’t it?

“You like me?” Junmyeon’s eyes widened, reflecting even more light. Not too fast then, thank god.

“As in, love, not as a friend?” the mer blinked at him, looking beautiful in the light of the full moon that was bright enough to light out his face to show all his emotions that played over it, as they always did.

“Um. Yeah. I had a crush on you the moment you surfaced in the pool? But it’s more than that now. I don’t only like you because you’re handsome! I like everything about you!” Jongdae couldn’t stop the words falling from his mouth. Still no filter. 

He was about to tell Junmyeon how it was fine if he didn’t return the feelings, because he found out it took more than a date to fall in love, because that was what Jongdae assumed was the problem here, but the mer spoke before he could.

“I like you, too, as in love-like!” Junmyeon grabbed his hands with a bit too much force. “But I though you didn’t think like that and rather than making you uncomfortable, I just kept quiet. I feel like such an idiot now! But why didn’t you tell me? Why did you say we were friends?”

“But, we are friends!” 

“Wait, can friends be in love with each other and still be friends?” Junmyeon asked, looking shocked. “I thought that was called platonic?” 

Jongdae burst into laughter up his desperate expression.

“There’re too many definitions in love. As you said, it’s so much more complicated than you would think.” Jongdae concluded. Junmyeon whined: “It really is.”

“So, um, may I kiss you?” Jongdae asked carefully. Junmyeon gasped.

“Yes! Yes, quick, what time is it?” Jongdae didn’t bother checking and wasting more time, but leaned in to capture the mer’s lips. It was just a chaste peck and he was about to pull back, but Junmyeon followed him, pressing their lips against each other again. 

Jongdae only had theoretical knowledge how this was supposed to work, but it just came naturally. They moved their lips against each other carefully, their lips opening a bit with each new press, until their tongues were working against each other, licking over Junmyeon’s lips, and into his mouth. Jongdae felt his body starting to tingle, heat crawling into his stomach.

And then, Junmyeon suddenly jerked back and squeaked: 

“Tao!”

Jongdae turned to where Junmyeon was looking, to see a looming, dark person, leaning against the bare rocks that rose at both sides of Arielle beach. The figure pushed off and closed the distance to them, becoming more visible. He glared at them and Jongdae felt himself shrink in fear. His hair reflected green in the moon light, but his eyes were grass green, almost shining in the darkness. Jongdae felt Junmyeon clasp his shirt and he tried to stand his ground, even when this other person, or mer? Most likely mer, towered over them, obviously furious.

“Yah! Prince Junmyeon! Kim Jongdae! Could you have hurried the fuck up? I was almost crying over there, because you couldn’t get your shit together and just tell each other how you felt, I saw it from literally day one, for Poseidon’s sake! Do you have any idea how pissed your father would have been, if you’d let this golden chance go?” Jongdae stared at the very intimidating man cursing at them, while his voice started quivering and his eyes filled with tears, using a lot of arm movements to reinforce his points.

“If you had just returned home like that, I would have not helped you, it’d have been your own fault for being so blind. Do you know what time it is? It’s 11:55. Why are you doing this to me? Do you have any idea how stressed I was?” the other, Tao, ranted on. 

“I’m sorry?” Junmyeon tried to calm him down. “You are sorry? You are fucking sorry? Well, I am sorry, because I probably lost about 20 years of my life I am never getting back over you two being dumb idiots, even though you’re obviously perfect for each other and you running around so obviously in love that literally everyone noticed, but you!” Tao was still crying and Jongdae was still holding onto Jongdae’s shirt, who was very confused what to do in this situation. 

“Wait, who noticed?” Junmyeon whispered.

“First of all, that friend of his, Baekhyun. He tried very hard to set you up, though, because he only noticed Jongdae’s feelings. And his swimming technique is terrible, it’s a miracle he doesn’t just sink.” Tao huffed, as if Baekhyun’s doggy paddling personally offended him.

“Wait, did you stalk us?” Jongdae accused, no longer scared.

“Someone had to keep an eye on the Prince, right? Anyway, then the waiter at the ice cream café, very delicious ice cream, by the way, and a very smart boy, noticed.” 

“Okay, okay, I got it.” Junmyeon interrupted. “God, I can’t believe father send you after me! Can he just once in my life not…” Junmyeon was uncharacteristically furious. Jongdae quite liked the emotional outburst, however… 

“Not what?” Jongdae jerked around, as another voice he had never heard before cut in. Unsurprisingly, the voice was coming straight from the water, where someone was sitting in the waves. Jongdae wasn’t even surprised anymore.

“Father! I thought I was being sent to find a true love’s kiss on my own!” Junmyeon didn’t hesitate to step into the waves, but Tao pulled him back, before he could get into the water too deep. “Well and how should I have judged whether or not it was true love? Someone had to make sure, and who better than my trusted advisor?” The mer from the water shouted right back.

So, this was the mer with the power to make necklaces that turned mer into humans? Jongdae suddenly found his initial fear very well placed and reasonable. 

“So, Kim Jongdae?” Jongdae reached for Junmyeon’s shirt to hold on it like a lifeline this time. It was hard to see the person in the water clearly, because he was much further away than Tao and even the full moon not as bright as the sun, but his voice held a certain power. And this was the father of the guy he just confessed to and had kissed and wanted to date and…

“Yes?” Jongdae asked carefully. 

“Come over here, will you?” The mer in the waves asked, his voice drained of the harsh undertone it had carried a moment earlier when arguing with Junmyeon. 

Jongdae looked at Junmyeon for a second, before Tao pushed him towards the king, Junmyeon’s father, and his jeans were soaked immediately. He tried to walk gracefully, but the mer was in knee deep water and it just wasn’t happening. 

The scales on the king’s tail were blue like Junmyeon’s, and his hair turned out to be the same colour, as well, and so were his eyes. The king looked maybe 30, though that couldn’t be right, and Jongdae assumed he’d be tall standing, with his impressive broad shoulders. There was a lot of jewellery and embroidered fabrics hanging off him and floating in the water. 

“Hm. So, Tao told me you helped Junmyeon?” 

“Uh, yes?” 

“And you are the one he loves?” Jongdae grinned like a lovestruck idiot 

“Yes, it seems.” 

“Hm. And you love him?” 

“Yes, I think?”

“You think?” the mer raised a sharp eyebrow and Jongdae whimpered internally.

“No, I’m in love with him, I’m sure.”

“Good. Call me Sehun. You know… I never planned to marry him off, but he was just so… passive. He’s the youngest of three, you see, he doesn’t have any responsibilities and not a lot of expectations to live up to. But all he ever did was read in the library. He wasn’t going out to meet people or socialise. I mean, what was I to do? He was stuck with books from 200 years ago. I was rather surprised, when he actually got angry over the idea of being married off, so, I may or may not have snapped and actually found someone to marry him off, if he didn’t manage to figure it out.” The mer brushed back his hair, looking a bit sheepish and much less scary.

“But I’m glad he found you. But, you know, if you break his heart, you should better end your life guard career and any swimming in the ocean, just warning you.” The mer smiled and Jongdae felt a shiver of fear, yes definitely still scary.

“Now, off you go. I want Junmyeon home tomorrow so we can figure this out, but don’t worry, you get him back. And send Tao, two weeks without my husband are more than enough.” 

“I thought Tao was your advisor?” Jongdae stuttered, starting to walk backwards toward the shore.

“Can’t he be both?” Sehun winked and Jongdae blushed. Junmyeon had said his father could hear anything happening by and in the sea. He hadn’t expected it to be this literal.

 

Jongdae tried to roll out of the sun that was shining directly on his face, but bumped into another body. The other man on their bed whined and cracked an eye open.

“You’re doing the octopus thing again, Dae.” Junmyeon complained, voice husky from sleep. “It’s the sun!” Jongdae whined. “But the sun is so nice!” Junmyeon stretched his arm to shield it from Jongdae’s face. His skin was still stark pale, even after five years of summers on the beach. 

Jongdae pulled his arm, making the mer roll onto him. “Sorry for stealing your bed space, Myeonnie.” He pressed a kiss on his boyfriend’s lips. 

“You shall be forgiven.” Junmyeon chuckled. 

“Well, since we’re awake already, why don’t we get up? We need to go shopping for the Arielle beach party.” 

“No.” Jongdae whined. 

“We can’t be dressed worse than the heterosexuals, you know?” Junmyeon placed a kiss on Jongdae’s cheek.

“I couldn’t care less about dressing. You look best without clothes anyway.” Junmyeon snorted and flicked Jongdae’s forehead. 

“But I do know something else that is up.” Jongdae cackled and the mer shook his head, looking at him judgingly. 

“If I blow you, will you go shopping without whining the whole trip?”

Jongdae smirked: “Deal.”

 

“Oh my god, you animals, it’s 7 in the morning and I need to bleach my ears because I overheard my two best friends fucking. Again! You are going to pay for therapy, because I will need one. Urgh, gross.” Baekhyun banged on their door, but was ignored.

“Come on, Baek, I’ll make coffee.”

“We are not leaving any for those two, Yeol. Anyway, do you think Taeyeon-Noona will like a white shirt on me?”

“You are not going to try and ask her out again this year.” 

“Why not? Maybe she finally will realise I am the one for her…”

“Don’t worry, I’ll make you godfather of Joy and my first child and you can babysit whenever, since you will remain single all your life if this continues.” 

“I need new best friends. Ones that aren’t stupid in love and can relate to a sad, single person. Maybe I should use my wish to wish for some?” 

“No, you won’t.” 

“No, I won’t. Love you idiots. Oi, lovebirds, we’re making coffee, hurry up and come, in both meanings of the word, or it’ll be cold!”

Jongdae chuckled at his best friends’ yelling and pulled Junmyeon into a kiss, tasting himself on the mer’s tongue. “I love you, Myeonnie.” 

“I love you, too, Dae-Dae. Now, let’s hurry with part two of coming, I want not-cold coffee.” 

“Wait, part one of coming hasn’t been completed.” Jongdae pulled his chuckling boyfriend back on the bed.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, I really appreciate comments and contructive critism. :)


End file.
